4f 



;^y 



AX 



""^^B- : 



A I) D R E S S 



DELIVERED AT THE 



Centennial Celebration, 



IN 



J" Jk. IF- IF K/ IB "^ 



' AUGUST -20, 1873. 



i 






BY .JOEL I^^RliER. 



WINCHENDON : 

I'RINTED BY F. "W . WARD & CO 

18 7 3. 



^M 



WsSr^ 






AN 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT THE 



Centennial Celebration, 



IN 



vJ J^ IT- IP I?, IB "Z" , 



AUGUST 20, 1873. 



BY JOEL. I>^RKEE, 




WINCHENDON : 
PRINTED BY F. W. WARD & CO 
18 73. 

^^7^1 









U^OV tONG^ 



5 \ft^^ 




WKS^!^ 




ADDRESS. 



Fellow Citizens, Friends; Ladies and Gentlemen: — 
Some tlu-eescore years since, a favorite piece for declamation by 
the junior school-boys commenced with this couplet : 

" You 'd scarce expect 0110 of 1113' age. 
To speak in public on the stage." 

When I received the invitation of the Committee of Arrano-e- 
ments, to deliver an Addi'ess, at the close of a century, more than 
three-quarters of which I represent, so far as years are concern- 
ed, in my own person, I was forcibly reminded of this school-boy 
excrcise, and strongly tempted, reversing- its significance, to make 
it the basis of my reply. 

But the after-thought was, that upon such occasions, reminis- 
cences are generally acceptable, even if they are trivial, and that 
perhaps, urged by such a complimentary requisition, I oAved it to 
the Town of my birth, to waive my claim to exemption, make my 
"last appearance" on this occasion, and tell Avhat I know, little 
thovigh it may be, of its early history. 

Little enough it is, in fact, for the years of my early youth 
were passed in the remote seclusion of the Northeastern cor- 
ner of the township, — and with only a few intervening years 
in the centre, my personal knowledge iTspe^iting its people, and 
its affairs, has been only through qccasionaT* \isits'. 

If, " sixty years since " I had had even a remote suspicion, 
that I might stand here toda-^, to discourse respecting the first 



% JAFFREY CENTENNIAL. 

9 

inhjibltancy of this town, and its incorporation, I would have 
come to yon this morning Avith a portfolio full of notations re- 
specting its ancient history. Having no such premonition, 
many of the incidents of its early days have escaped from my 
grasp, — and the sources from which alone information respect- 
ing them could have been derived are gone forever. The Cen- 
tury which is commemorated has, in the course of nature, car- 
ried away the Fathers who saw the inception of the settlement 
here, with those who immediately followed and Avere conversant 
with things done and transacted within its borders. 

Even in regard to a much later date ; a few only of that peri- 
od seem to stand, somewhat like the servants of Job, who came 
from different quarters and said, one after another, — "I alone 
am escaped to tell thee;" — and doubtful upon whom I should 
charge the (inty of having greater knoAvledge than I ought to 
have respecting the first half of the century, and thereby release 
myself from the conscription, by presenting a sid)stitute, my con- 
clusion, at last, led me, in obedience to the requisition, to come 
before you at the present time, and ask your indulgence for the 
deficiencies which you will perceive in what I have to offer fo:;' 
your acceptance. 

The great antiquity of the Township where Ave are assembled 
does not admit of a doubt. 

It seems to be the better opinion, that in the creation of the 
Avorld, granite Avas first formed. We are assured that granite 
appears to be the fundamental rock of the earth's crust, and 
that " Avherever Ave reach the base of the stratified rocks, Ave find 
them resting upon granite." 

This being so, it folloAvs that New Hampshire is entitled to 
the credit of being part of the earliest creation. And that Jaf- 
frey had a larger interest in that creation than any of her neigh- 
bors, is shoAvn by the fact, that on the subsequent partition, the 
larger portion of the Monadnock was assigned to her. 

It is one of the jests about Father Sprague, as he Avas called, 
long the minister of Dublin, that discoursing one day upon 
faith, and cjuoting the passage of Scripture respc^cting its power 



JAFFKEY f ENTKNMAl.. 3 

to remove mountains, he turned his eye, tlirougli tlie Avindow, 
to the mass of granite in fiill view, and expressed a d()Td)t A\hetli- 
er that applied to the Monadnock. 

If there have been any very great ehanges in the structure of 
the earth here, since the period of creation, they are not chroni- 
cled. The Monadnock exhibits no evidence of disturbance, bv 
faith, or by volcanic influences. The only fires have been upon 
its exterior siu'face. At the settlement of the Township it mxist 
have been covered, nearly to its siimmit, Avith a dense forest. 
Some of my earliest recollections are of fires on its sides, Mhich 
furnished pillars of smoke bv day, and of fire bv night, sufficient 
to have guided the children of Israel, if their ])ath to the ])rom- 
ised land had lain in this vicinity. These fires left a tangled 
Avindfall, and a "bald rock," as it was called, at the top, — which 
was perhaps bare before that time. Possiblv they are res])onsi- 
ble, in some measure, for mv inaliilitv to hunt n\) a respectable 
bear storv, as a part of the minor history of the town. 

But if the mountain has not changed its local habitation, tlie 
town has its geologic and historic problem, of a different charac- 
ter, in the meadow lying just east of this tillage. Some twenty 
years since, in one of my occasional visits to JafFrey, T found 
Dr. Fox engaged in removing large pine stumps, Avith roots of 
great size and length, from his portion of the meadoAv, on the 
Avesterlv side, and he shoAved me, at the distance of a rod or tAAo 
from the upland, small pieces of Avood bearing evidence of hav- 
ing been cut bv the beaA^ers, and supposed to be parts of a beaA- 
er dam, taken from a depth of some five feet beloAv the surface. 
There were sticks of yellow birch and of alder about three or 
four inches in diameter, cut at the ends by a grooved instrument. 

It Avas not siu'prising that the beaA'ers should liaAc had a hab- 
itation in that vicinity. In fact, recent incpiiries sIioav that 
this toAvn must haA'e been a faA'orite locality Avith them. But 
it was a mystery hoAV, in the present conformation of the land, 
there covild have been a beaver dam in that sjjot. 

Recently it was determined to haAc a further examination, 
and it was soon ascertained that there bad b(-en a beaver dam at 
the outlet of the nu'adoAV, on tlie Southeast, near Air. Cutter's 



i- JAFFREY CENTENNIAL. 

tannery, — in the place which any sagacious beaver might have 
designated for a dam, — and the conclusion Avas readily reached, 
that what had been discovered by Dr. Fox was the remains of a 
beaver's cabin, on the Westerly shore of the pond which must 
have been formed by this dam. And so it proved. Selecting 
a spot a short distance from that opened by Dr. Fox, we struck 
another cabin, shown clearly to be such, by finding the beaver's 
bed, composed of small twigs, leaves and grass, well constructed 
in layers, — the general color being of a light orange when taken 
out, but becoming dark very soon, on exposure to the air. Many 
of the leaves were of perfect form, so that the kinds could be 
distinguished; and a small beech-nut was found betAveen the 
sheets, probably not stowed away for use but taken up Avith the 
leaves in forming the bed. 

All mystery about the formation of a beaA-er dam was soh-ed, 
but there Avas a marvel remaining. The beaver's bed Avas about 
seven feet below the sui'face, and when made must have been in 
a dry position, and above the surface of a pond. By Avhat pro- 
cess of accretion had this pond been filled, and some sca'cu feet 
of mud deposited above the bed ? On testing the depth of the 
mud Avith a pole, it Avas found to be about thirteen feet. In the 
centre of the meadow it must be much more. 

The surrounding hills, at the present time, do not giA'e CA'i- 
dence that great aid in filling could haA-e been deriA^ed from them, 
— indicating that the basin must haA^e filled itself, to a great ex- 
tent, from its OAvn resoiu'ces. Sufficient material must perhaps 
haA'e been Avashed in for the commencement of the process. 

Dr. Fox states, that in clearing his meadoAV of these stumps 
and roots, he dug down into the mud in some places to the 
depth of ten feet ; and that he found thi'ee tiers of large pine 
stumps, perhaps none dii'ectly over the others, but on three dif- 
ferent levels, — one at the surface, the second about a foot beloAA^ 
the bottom roots of the first, and the third about the same dis- 
tance beloAv the second, bringing the thii'd about on the level 
Avith the beaver's cabin. — The trees Avere A-ery large pines, gen- 
erally three or foiu* feet in diameter, and similar in the scAcral 
tiers. 



JAITREY CEXTENMAL. 5 

This statement is su])plementcd by Benjamin Cutter, Esq., 
who says, that in clearing his part of the meadow, he dug cross 
ditches, — and that at the intersection he found three large 
stumps in a perpendicular line, — the upper one directly above 
the other tAvo, — the two upper of pines, one to two feet in diam- 
eter, — the lower apparently of birch and about one foot, — and 
that there were pine stumps at the surface, near, or quite, four 
feet in diameter, within, probably, ten rods. 

That trees grow and decay is no marvel. But thi-ee succes- 
sive generations of them, so to spealc, situated on the same spot, 
and attaining th's gigantic size, and on such a wet soil, formed 
to a great extent by their oAvn decay, are not often seen or heard 
of, — never before to my knowledge. 

Centuries seem to be comprised in this problem. Pine trees 
four feet in diameter do not grow in a short period, and when 
grown it requires some time to resolve them by a natural process 
of decay, into good meadow mud, capable of sustaining another 
like growth. 

I can hardly assign less than five Imndred vears, perhaps it 
may be a thousand, — as a time when this beaver's cabin was 
erected and his bed made. Hoav much longer, and how many 
tiers of pine trees there may have been below those discovered 
is not very material. 

If any one is disposed to cavil about the exact period, T have 
no objection to discount a century or so ; but I cannot consent 
to give up any of the stumps, because as they stand, or rather 
stood, — the town may stump all the toAvns in the region round 
about, to show anything bigger, of that description. 

It needs not that I should say to you, that it was persevering 
indiistry and diligent hard labor which subdued the forest here, 
and converted so large a portion of the township into reasonably 
fertile fields. 

It must be admitted that the surface is somewhat uneven. — 
I should be uuAvilling to apply the term roiiorJt to the township, 
or to any body or thing connected Avith it. — And there are some 
stones scattered here and there, notwithstanding the " heaps of 



n JAFFREY CENTEXMAL. 

'em " piled up in the fields, in times past, by the boys, somewhat 
to their disgust when they wanted to "go a fishing." 

But this is a world of compensations. Pure air, pure water, 
and good drainage, are conducive to good health, and good mor- 
als ; and it is but just to say, that this is a place where a man, 
under ordinary circumstances, may expect to " live out half his 
days," and even something more, if careful about his habits. 

A party to as?end the Monadnock, after " haying time," was 
one of the recreations many years since ; — but who could then 
imagine, that our beloved Town, with its uneven surface, Avould 
become a celebrated resort for the seekers after health, and for 
the lovers of quiet and of the picturesque, and that the writers of 
prose, and eke of poetry, would come hither, not merely to get 
a larger view ef the world than they ever had before, but to 
make it a dwelling, and a habitation, and a shelter against the 
heats of summer, and perhaps the storms of adverse fortune.* 

Respecting the minor incidents of the early history of the town, 
little can now be known, for the reasons suggested. 

It is said that there were settlers here prior to seventeen hun- 
dred and forty-nine. If so, they were occupants without even 
color of title, and doubtless did not remain. 

If we desire to derive a title otherwise than from the original 
granite, we may trace it through the Right in the Crown of 
Great Britian by Discovery. — The grant of King James I, to 
the Council of Plymouth, in the County of Devon, in England. 
— The grant of that corporation to Capt. John Mason. — A 
devise by him to his grandson Robert Tufton, who took the name 
of M ason. — Thence as an entailed estate, through several de- 
scents to his great-grandson John Tufton M ason, — and after a re- 
covery his conveyance in 1746, to Theodore Atkinson and 



*I note, however, that the inducenieuts to tlie traveller to "stop over," 
may not, within the law, be in all respects quite as numerous as those 
held out by a poetical landlord, who kept a tavern north of Keene village, 
some three-quarters of a century since. They ran in this wise : 

"Why will ye pass by, both hungry and dry, 

Good brandy, good gin, please to walk in, 

Good baiting, good bedding. 

Your humble servant, Thomas Redding." 



JAFFUEY f'ENTEXXIAL, 



eleven other persons, who afterwards hecame known as "the Afa- 
sonian Proprietors." 

Acting under a vote of thes.- Masonian Proprietors, passed 
June 16, 1749, Joseph Blanchard, of Dnnstabk", as their agent, 
on the thirtieth of November of that year, conveyed to Jonathan 
Hubbard and thirty-nine others, all the Right, Possession and 
Property of the Proprietors, to this to^^'nship, then called the 
Middle Monadnock, or Number Two, — several of the grantees 
taking more than one share, the number of shares being in fact 
fifty.* The deed contained a provision by which the land 
should be divided into seventy-one shares, three shares being 
" granted and appropriated, free of all charge, on(^ for the first 
settled minister," " one for the support of the ministry, and 
one for the school there forever, "f the grantors reserving for 
themselves eighteen shares, accpiittcd from all duty and charge 
until improved. And it was provided that each share contain 
three lots, equitably coupled together, and drawn for, at or be- 
fore the first of July next, in some equitable manner. 

One of the provisions of the deed was that each of the grantees 
should, at the executing of the instrument, pay twenty i)oTuids 
old tenor, to defray the necessary, charges arisen and arising in 
said township.* • 



*See Appendix A. 

tGrants of townships by the Governor and Council outside of tlie limits 
of the Masonian Proprietors, sonietimes contained provisions yivintr 
shares to 'the Church of England, and to the society for the propnga^ 
tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, with a large sliare'for his Excelleney 
personally. 

tThe actual amount to be paid was but a small proportion of tlic nom- 
inal sum thus set down: — the old tenor being a paper currency issued 
long before by. the Province, which, not having been redeemed accordin^: 
to its tenor, had greatly depreciated. Massacliusotts had three emissions 
of paper currency, which became known as old tenor, middle tenor, and 
new tenor. The old tenor had depreciated in 1753, so that twenty shil- 
lings of it were worth only two shillings eight pence lawful monev. It 
may be safely inferred that tlie currency of New Hampshire was not better. 
Probably it was worse. Belknap, speaking of a controversy between 
Governor Benning Wentworth and the Assembly, in 1749, respecting the 
representation of the towns, says :— •• The etfee't of this controversy" was 
injurious to the governor, as well as to the people. The public bills of 
credit had depreciated since this administration hogan, in the ratio of thir- 
ty to fifty-six, and the value of the j;overnor'.s salary had declined in the 
same proportion." 



S JAFFREY CENTENNIAL. 

There are conditions respecting clearing, building, and set- 
tlement, to be performed within certain specified times, by the 
several grantees, — a condition that a good convenient meeting- 
house should be built, as near the centre as might be with conve- 
nience, within six years from date, and ten acres of land reserved 
for public use : — another, that the grantees, or theii- assignees, 
by a major vote, in public meeting, should grant and assess such 
further sums as they should think necessary for carrying for- 
ward the settlement, — with a provision fpr the sale of so much 
of any delinquent's right as should be necessary for the payment 
of a tax, by a committee appointed for that purpose ; — and a 
further provision that if any of the grantees should neglect or 
refuse to perform any of the articles, he should forfeit his share 
and right to those of the grantees who should have complied on 
their part, — with power to enter upon the right of the delin- 
cjuent owner, and oust him, provided they should perform his 
duty as he should have done, within a year. 

There were provisions by which the grantors undertook to 
defend the title, to a certain extent. 

We are interested in these conditions and provisions only as 
matters of history, serving to show the measures taken by the 
Masonian Proprietors to secure the settlement of the townships 
which they granted, this among others. 

It seems probable that none of the conditions were strictly 
complied with. They could not well be at that time. But so 
long as there were attempts, in good faith, to make settlements, 
it was not for the interest of the grantors to enforce forfeitures. 
Their shares became more valuable as the others were improved, 
and the enforcement of forfeitures, when there were attempts to 
perform, would have injured themselves. 

I have procured from the Clerk of the Masonian Proprietors, 
copies of the documents on file in his office relating to this Town- 
ship. A few items may perhaps be acceptable. 

The grantees held a meeting at Dunstal>le, January 1(), 1749- 
50, at which a vote was passed that each right be laid out into 
three lots, and to couple them fit for drawing, to be done by the 
last day of INlay ; and that twenty pounds old tenor be raised to 



JAFFKEY CENTEXXTAT,. 9 

hp raised to each right, to defray charges incidental thereto. 

A plan of the township, seven miles long by five broad, laid 
out into ten ranges, and twenty-two lots one hundi'ed rods wide 
to each range, was finished in May, 1750. 

The meeting in January was adjoiu'ned to the first Tuesday 
in June, Avhen it was again adjotuuied to the second Tuesday, 
at which time the lots were di'awn. 

It is probable that some of the grantee^ abandoned their rights, 
as six shares Avere sold at this meeting, and the money ordered 
to be deposited Avith the Treasiu'er, to be paid " to the first five 
men that goes on with their families in one year from this date, 
and continues there for the space of one year." 

There was a vote also for a Committee to lav out a road from 
another Number Two (Wilton) through Peterboro' Slip, to this 
township.* 

The maeting was then adjourned to November 8th, at which 
time a vote was passed prescribing the method of calling future 
meetings, — the provision for notice being the posting of notices 
at Dunstable, Lunenberg and Hollis. A fiirther vote appointed 
Joseph Blanchard, Benjamin Bellows, and Captain Peter Pow- 
ers, " a Committee to manage the Prudentials for this Society." 

These last votes give us a clue to the residences of some of 
the grantees. They of coiu'se belonged to the towns where no- 
tices were to be posted. Captain Peter Powers, who was the 
grantee of four shares, and the purchaser of foiu" of the six sold 
at auction at the first meeting, — and who was one of the Com- 
mittee to manage the Prudentials, — must have been the first set- 
tler of Hollis, in 1731 ; — one of the soldiers under the cele- 
brated Capt. John Love well, who fell in the Indian fight at Pig- 
Avackett, in 1725. 

At a meeting of the grantees August 4, 1752, a formal vote 
was passed to accept the title with an acknowledgement that they 

*NoTK. — Lyndoboro'. inrludiiifi' tlio Northerly part of Wilton, was laid 
out by Massiicluisetts under the claim of that Colony, and irranted to certain 
persons, mostly belonsiinjj to Salem, in consideration of their sutferings in 
the expedition to Canada. The residue of what is Wilton was liranted 
by the Masonian Proprietors, in 174!). and was called No. 2. Ma.son was 
called No. 1. reterhoro' Slip comprised the towns of Temple and Sharon. 
This "ives us the "eneral course of the road. 



10 JAFFREY CENTEXXIAL. 

held it under the conditions, and limitations, and reservations ; 
— by .some of which there should have been clearings before 
that time. 

Copies of the deed executed by Blanchard, and of the plan ; 
and a list of the Proprietors, were filed in the office of the grant- 
ors September 4th, 1753. 

It is stated that a settlement was attempted in 1753 by Rich- 
ard Peabody, Moses Stickney and a few others, who remained 
but two or three years. The first native was a son of Moses 
Stickney, born in 1753. 

The first permanent settlement was made in 1758, by John 
Grout and John Davidson. 

There is in the files a paper containing, First, a list of settlers 
on the free lots to the number of nine families. Second, a list 
of settlers that abide constantly on settling rights, — total 22. 
Third, " some beginnings on settling rights," number 10. Also 
a memorandum, "no meeting-house built." This is certified as 
a true account of the settling rights " carefully examined and 
humbly submitted" by John Grout and Roger Gilmore. There 
is no date to it, nor any memorandum when it was received, but 
pinned to it is a paper signed John Gilmore and Roger Gilmore, 
dated March 10, 1769, addressed to " Gentlemen Grantors," set- 
ting forth, that they bought the right that was Paul ]March's, 
January, sixty-eight, and the improvements which they have 
made and intend, and concluding ; " Gentlemen, we beg the fa- 
vor of you, as you are men of honor, that you will not hurt us in 
our interest, for we have done everything in our power to bring 
forward the settlement of this place." 

Roger Gilmore is the only one of the earlier settlers that I am 
sure of having seen. He lived on the hill east of the tannery of 
John Cutter, — was a man of large frame, aud dignified deport- 
ment, — was highly esteemed, and was much employed as Jus- 
tice of the Peace, Siuweyor and in town offices and affairs. 

There is also on file, " an accompt of the settlements in Mo- 
nadnock No. 2," certified by Enoch Hale, stating the names of 
the settlers on the several rights, and the number of the rights, 
(ten in all), appearing to be delinquent. It is without date, but 
was " Received March 8th, 1770," and was probably made up 



JAFFREY CENTENNIAL. 11 

Avithin a short time pre-s-ioxisly. From this it appears that there 
were settlements on thirty-foiu- rights ; and twelve lots (addition- 
al as I understand,) improved ; — and that mills were erected on 
Right 15, and a saw-mill oil 41. 

And here, near the close of its unincorporated existence, let 
IIS pay a deserved tribute to the enterprise and energy of the 
early settlers. 

Struggling against obstacles that were all but insuperable, and 
through hardships which might \vell have daunted the most de- 
termined courage, they have, in a few years, brought the town- 
ship largely above the average of the settlements in the County, 
and to a position exceeded only by towns of a longer existence, 
all of which had much greater facilities for access. 

The particular obstacles which they encountered, and the de- 
tails of the hardships which they endured, we cannot know. Of 
their personal deprivations and sufferings, we fail to form an ad- 
equate conception. It is difficult to gain even a general appre- 
ciation of them. 

There are, it is true, only forty miles intervening between the 
head-quarters, if we may so call them, at Dunstable, but twenty 
or more of them are through a nearly trackless, dense forest, 
over a rough, rocky surface, with occasionally a small natural 
meadow. 

The pioneers make their slow, painful way, much of it tlii'ough 
the thick under-brush, — the husband with an axe on his should- 
er, and what he can carry of household appendages in a pack on 
his back, and his wife follows, somewhat similarly loaded, ex- 
cept the axe. Cheap land, within the reach of their scanty 
means, has tempted them to endurance. There may be a young 
man with them. God be thanked Ave do not see any young 
children. Weary, Avorn in spirit, as avcII as in body, they reach 
the range and lot of their destination, and their first shelter is 
constructed of hemlock boughs, Avith the same material for a bed- 
stead, and leaves for a mattress. 



12 JAFFREY CENTENNIAL. 

A rude log hut follows.'* And then comes the hard struggle 
with'the forest, and with privation, — Avith the winter, its deep 
snows, and its intense cold. There is no communication with 
the outward world but by " rackets," (snow-shoes), and pioneers 
of longer duration are in other towns, miles away. It is not 
necessary to put wild beasts into this picture. 

Is it wonderful that the settlers of '53 found this too great an 
endurance, even for their braA'e hearts, and strong arms, and 
■that they abandoned the settlement, when remaining threatened 
their lives I Or rather is it not wonderfid that they lived to 
abandon it ? Sui'ely it was not light difficulties which >vould de- 
ter persons who had the courage to begin such a Avork, from the 
prosecution of their pui-pose. 

But there is another attempt at settlemcait made under more 
favorable auspices. 

We may suppose that the fe^v pounds voted to be raised to 
make a road from No. 2 have been expended. The underbrush 
and some of the stones arc cleared away, and trees are blazed 
along the route ; and another small party of settlers start, with 
oxen, not in yokes, but single file, with such loads as they can 
carry strapped upon their backs. And there is a cow there. 
The small patches of natural meadow furnish food for the ani- 
mals, and the emigrants arrive Avith better means of establishing 
themselves. — The trees fall, — the logs are drawn, piled, burnt, 
— a small space is cleared, — a shelter is built, — seed is soAvn, 
and the vegetation, anxiously Avatched and tended, gives a scan- 
ty crop. But sickness comes. Exposure has produced its nat- 
ural result ; — fever is in the household. There is no physi- 
cian. The medicines are the foAv simple remedies brought in the 
luggage. Acts of neighborly kindness Avould be cheerfully rend- 



*The log hut must have been an institution of short duration. So far as 
I have hfarcl, there is little tradition of log houses in the town. A grist 
and saw mill were erected in Peterboro' as early as I75I. Another saw 
mill near the place of the South Factory, in 1758. Kev. ,Tohn H. Morison. 
in his very interesting Address at the Centennial Celebration in Peterboro', 
says : " at this period [1770] log huts Avere little used. Substantial frame 
houses, many of them two stories high, had been erected." And we have 
seen, from the return of 1770, that there Avere then two saw mills here. 



JAFFHEY CEXTENXIAL. 13 

cred, if thoro were near neighbors, but are of difficnlt procurement 
in this forest of " magnificent distances," and all the hours of at- 
tendance by the sick bed are so much time withdi'awn from what 
would otherwise have been essentially necessary for labor and for 
rest. — Alas ! the kindest care, the unskimbering AV'atch, and the 
ft^rvent prayer, are unavailing, and the sufferer, no longer such, 
is laid to final rest in some quiet corner of " the clearing." 

Out of this darkness comes a brighter dawn. Lumber can be 
had. The mills are miles distant, to be sure, and the transpor- 
tation difficult, but perseverance overcomes obstacles. " The 
road " has been improved. — There is a horse upon the path. — 
The rider has a young child in her lap, and one somewhat older 
sits behind. — Her husband di'ives " the stock." The way is not 
so toilsome, — there are more articles of housekeeping in the 
luggage, — more of encoui'agement, more of hope, more of frui- 
tion, more of happiness. 

We have reached 1770, and there are several families here. 
The settlement is established on a fii*m basis. 

Let us never fail to do justice to the pioneers, men aiic women, 
who with such resolute courage, fortitude, patience and perse- 
verance, established a civilized society in the midst of a trackless 
Avilderness. 

We should do oiu-selves a great wrong, if we did not express 
our deep admiration of them. 

In 1771, the Province was divided into Counties. Prior to 
this time all the public offices were in Portsmouth or the vicini- 
ty, and the Courts Avere held there. 

In an Act for making a new proportion of public taxes, passed 
May 28, 1773, which included unincorporated places. Monad- 
nock No. 2 is set down at £3— 5s in the £1000. The propor- 
tion for C/heshire County, which iintil 1827, included Avhat is 
now Sullivan County, was £117— 8s. There were twelve towns 
in the County rated higher than Jaffi-ey, and seventeen towns and 
places at less. This proportion of the taxation serves to show, 
in some measure, its relative importance, at that time. 



14 JAFFKEY CENTENNIAL. 

The Masonlan Proprietors had and claimed only a right of 
property. Their title to the land passed by the deed authorized 
by them, as a deed passes the title to land at the present 
day ; but there was no right of town government granted. The 
provision for taxing the shares, and collecting the tax, could on- 
ly be made effectual through the laws of the Province. The ju- 
risdiction was in the Governor and Council, and the Assembly. 

The a'rantecs of the lands acted like a corporation for the di- 
vision and disposition of their lands, and the performance of 
their duties as a Proprietary, but for nothing beyond. When 
those things were accomplished, the Proprietary was at an end, 
— dissolved. And this was true also of the townships granted 
by the Governor, outside of the limits of the Masonian lines, 
unless incorporated. 

There was no provision in the general laws by which an as- 
sessment could be made upon the inhabitants of unincorporated 
places, for which reason the Act apportioning the public taxes, 
in 1773, contained a provision appointing persons, who were 
named, to call meetings of the inhabitants of such places, and 
requiring the inhabitants at such meetings to choose the necessa- 
ry officers for assessing and collecting the tax, and giving author- 
ity for that piu-pose. 

And so the time had come when the interests of the people 
required corporate powers, of a general character, and on the 
17th of August, 1773, an Act of Incorporation was granted, 
nominally by His Majesty, George III, but in fact by the Royal 
Governor, John Wentworth, with advice of the Council, — the 
corporate name being found in the name of one of the Masonian* 
Proprietors, who was then Secretary ; and J'iffietj was installed 
into the great brotherhood of political and municipal incorpora- 
tions, called Towns ; which have been of such incalculable ben- 
efit not only to New England, Avhere they originated, and of 
which they are the glory and the pride, but through it to the 
country at large. 

The centuries of which we usually speak, date from the com- 
mencement of the christian era, — occasionally from the period 



JAFFKEY CEXTEyXIAL. 15 

assigned hy Biblical Theology as the time of the creation of the 

world. 

But a century may have its beginning at any point of time. 
That of Avhich ■\ve now witness the close had its inception with 
this incorporation. If the event be supposed to be one of com- 
parative insignificance, it was one which has had a greater abso- 
lute force, for the promotion of the happiness of those persons 
inhabiting within the limits of the toAvai, than any of the greater 
ones which have astonished the Avorlcl. 

If we should suspend, for a moment, the consideration of the 
local interests attached to this incorporation, and which entitle 
it to mark the commencement of a centmy, and its anniver- 
sary to a grateful recognition and celebration, and shovild tiu'n 
our attention to the general history of the centiu-y which has 
followed, we should find that this century may challenge a com- 
parison Avith any one which has preceded it, whatever date may 
be assigned for the commencement of the latter. 

But we must not undertake the centennial history of the Avorld 
to-day. On om- recollection of it, however, we may surely be 
pardoned if we exclaim, — Great has been the century which had 
its commencement in the incorporation of the town of Jaflfrey ! 

These incorporated towns had their origin in Plymouth, Dux- 
bui-y, and Scituate, in the Plymouth Colony, — followed by 
Charlestown, Salem and Newton, fsince Cambridge,) and Dor- 
chester, in Massachusetts, — and by Portsmouth, Dover, Exeter, 
and Hampton, in this state. 

It has been suggested that the ToA\ai Organization had its ori- 
gin in the Congregational Church polity, — and in fact the or- 
ganization of the chm-ch, in the earlier settlements of the Pil- 
grims and the Puritans, accompanied the organization of the 
town. 

But the town grew mainly out of the secular need, — out of 
the democratic principle of self-government, — as is shown from 
the fact that changes in the modes and forms of worship, and in 
the different church organizations, have not affected the Town- 
ships, and the Towns; — Whereas Congregationalism had no ex- 
istence outside of the portions of the country where thesc^ ToA\-n- 



16 JAFFKEY CEXTEXMAL. 

ships existed. Instead of creating- Townships and Towns, it has 
not itself been created to any extent, where they have not 
existed. It cannot well exist without them. But they now ex- 
ist in the Western country, w^here Congregationalism has as yet 
little foothold, — and but for them it would have been long since 
merged in Presbyterianism, which has been the prevailing form 
of orthodoxv in all parts of the country where these towns have 
been unknown.* 

Considering the principles and objects of the emigrants, the 
town system may be said to have been a necessity, in the exist- 
ing state of things, in the early settlement of this part of the 
country. It was the only organization by and through which 
the settlers could best provide for their wants, and have the full 
enjoyment of the liberty Avhich they prized so highly; — and 
they devised it accordingly. 

The early settlers of the Plymouth ( 'olony discovered, that 
the grant of corporate powers to the small separate settlements, 
and the passage of general laws giving them such power§ and 
privileges as would enable them to provide for their local needs, 
and subjecting them to the performance of such duties as might 
be required by the government of the whole Colony, was the 
best and fittest way for the transaction of the affairs of the 
different localities, and they so provided. — This conclusion Avas 
reached, not through any revelation which perfected the system 
at once, but by degrees, thi-ough their daily and yearly experi- 
ence ; and the system, inaugm-ated at Plymouth, commended it- 
self to the Massachusetts Colony, so that it was adopted there 
at the outset. 

The earliest settlements in this State were commenc(>d in a 
slightly different manner, Portsmouth, Dover, and Hampton be- 
ing towns, independent of each other, with separate powers of 
government, exercised by agreement, without any act of Incorpo- 
ration. But when the government of the Colony of New Hamp- 
shire was organized, grants of townships were made and towns 
incorporated. 

In this oro;anization of towns, the settlements of New Eng- 
land differed from those of Virginia, and other Southern States, 



*See Appendix B. 



JAFFKEY CENTENNIAT,. 17 

and to these towns, providing for local wants, and performing 
local duties, NeM' England owes much of the prosperity, of which 
she has had a reasonahlc share to this day. 

The early settlers in this place, like those of other toAvns, 
wanted religious teachers and institutions. 'Fhis is shown, not 
merely hy the character of mankind, the nature of society, and 
the particular character of the parties, but by the provisions in 
the grant of the township giving one share for the first settled Min- 
ister, and one for the support of the Ministry, and by the condi- 
tion requiring that a good convenient meeting-house shoiild be 
built near the centre within six years. 

Whatever we may think respecting ourselves, at this later day, 
with our more dense population, and our enlarged means, we 
may well conclude, that at that period, it was for the benefit of 
the civil state, that the institutions of religion should be main- 
tained through some organization having legal power to provide 
for the support of religious teachers. In fact the authority of 
the towns to provide for the settlement of ministers and their 
support, remained until 1819, although the efficiency of the law 
was much impaired, by religious divisions, at an earlier day. 
The clergyman had then no need to spend his summer in Eu- 
rope, or the Adirondacks. His parish being the town, — his 
parochial visits furnished him with sufficient " nuiscular Christian- 
ity " for all practical purposes. 

They wanted schools, and of course they needed school-houses, 
— and for the erection of these, school districts. The inhabi- 
tants of the town, with a full understanding of the local needs of 
all portions of the town, could arrange these districts, — the 
people of the several districts could then d(>t(n-mine the sitiia- 
tion and the size of the house required, with regard to their ac- 
commodation, and pecuniary ability ; — and the tax voted by the 
town for th(^ support of schools, being divided in an equitable 
manner, could then be api)lied to the purposes of education, in 
these districts with the greatest possible efficiency. — The poor 
little school houses Avould not make a great shoAv by the side of 
some modern structures, — l)ut they did a work, perha])s quite as 
useful as if the seats had had cushions, aiul the d(>sks had been 
of mahogany. 



18 JAFFREY CEXTEXNIAL. 

They wanted highways. This need of facilities for intercom- 
munication, and for intercourse with other portions of the coun- 
try, must have impressed itself upon them, by the inconvenien- 
ces which they suffered, in a manner to assure an energetic use 
of their powers in this respect, — and the town incorporation, 
with its power to divide into districts for this pui'pose, and by 
the appropriation of money or labor, to be expended under 
surveyors interested to do a good work, soon rendered travel 
safe, and even convenient. The great rocks have disappeared, 
one after another, under the persevering application of the high- 
way tax, until the " drives " have, as you know, become very at- 
tractive. 

The then existing modes of travel and transportation did not 
requii-e roads of the most perfect construction. Chaises had not 
been introduced. The light Dearborn wagon had not been in- 
vented. The single horse had no difficulty in picking his wav, 
and by skilful " hawing and geeing," the oxen and cart were 
enabled to avoid the more formidable obstructions. Personal 
transportation was mostly on horseback ; but the cart was made 
the carryall when several persons were to be conveyed. The 
side-saddle fiu-nished a healthful means of locomotion for the 
Avomen, and when it became necessary to ride double, the pilli- 
on, no longer known alas, formed a very comfortable seat for 
the lady. As it was necessary in order to keep the seat proper- 
ly, that she should pass her arm around the side of the gentle- 
man, this was, in some cases, a very acceptable mode of trans- 
portation to the junior portion of the community. 

No system of general legislation could provide for all these 
local wants and necessities, according to the exigencies of partic- 
ular cases. 

But the general laws enabled these small communities, acting 
as municipal corporations, to provide each for itself, in relation 
to these and other matters, according to its own views of Avhat 
it needed, and what it could perform ; it being premised that it 
had needs upon some subjects, to some extent, and must perform 
to that extent, at least, — with liberty to do more, which it usually 
did. — Thus it must raise a certain amount of money for the sup- 



JAFFKEY CEXTEXXTAL. 19 

port of Schools, — and might raise more if deemed expedient. 

The powers and privileges which the towns possessed were 
not talents to be wrapped in a napkin, and buried in the earth, 
nor did the people belong the class of slothful and unfaithful 
servants who seek to escape from their duties. 

There were other duties and rights attached to these incorpo- 
rations. The di;ty of supplying the needs of the aged, and in- 
firm, and incompetent, who Avere unable to supply themselves ; 
so that want and destitution should be alleviated, and starvation 
unknown, was deemed a common duty of each community, — 
and could best be performed by these incorporations. 

Through them, also, the inhabitants were primarily to enjoy 
such political rights as were conceded to the people in the days 
of the Province, and the more extended and exalted powers 
which were conferred by the acquisition of Independence, the 
organization of the State, and the adoption of the Constitution 
of the XTnited States. — All the rights of suffrage were to be ex- 
ercised Avithin the town incorporation, the electors being sum- 
moned thereto by its warrants for such purposes. — Again, — 
the meetings held for these purposes gave opportunity for the 
full consideration and discussion of the measiu-es reqxiired for the 
public good, and for the expression of the opinions of the inhab- 
itants respecting them. How many of the specifications of the 
Declaration of Independence originated in the Resolutions of the 
towns we cannot now know. — Although no trace may be left, 
we know that there must have been arguments for and against 
the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, when the 
Delegates were chosen to attend the Convention which ratified 
it by a small majority, proposing divers amendments, — most of 
which Avere adopted immediately afterwards. Some voted against 
the ratification, fearing that such amendments Avould not be 
made, — perhaps so instructed by their constituents. 

Nothing could have been better adapted to the execution of 
all these purposes than these "little Democracies," as DeToc- 
queville has called them. 

The social privileges connected with the organization must not 
be overlooked. It mad(^ the inhabitants of the small tract of t(>rri- 



20 JAFFKKY f'ENTEXMAL. 

toiy within its limits, a brotherhood, — promoting; the welfare of 
each-Qther and of the whole community, by the meeting-house, 
the school-house, and the highway, — and in these, and other 
ways, establishing good order, social inter com-se, and a kindly 
feeling towards each other. 

The Town was the efficient means which secured the prosper- 
ity of the household. The several families, farmers, mechanics, 
laborers, and professional persons, needed, for the development 
of their resources, and the greatest enjoyment of their privileges, 
something beyond their isolated households, — something beyond 
even the mutual support of each other in their various neighbor- 
hoods, and they found it in the Town. It enlarged, while it 
concentrated, their sympathies, formed and moulded their opin- 
ions, and gave expression to their united will. Lastly, the mil- 
itary company organizations M'ere mostly within the Town, — 
two Communities sometimes uniting to furnish an extra article 
in this line. From these companies the ranks of the army have 
been recruited in time of war, — being liable to draft if necessary. 

In the time of the Revolution, when the ordinary mode of 
supplying the army seemed likely to fail, requsitions were made 
upon the towns to furnish ammunition and provisions, and were 
promptly answered. They were often the storehouses of am- 
munition. 

If any one who does not know, wou'd seek an exemplification 
of the utility of the Town incorporations, let him look at Jaffrey 
today, and study her history. 

An admirable result of the Town organization was, that the 
Revolution, which followed almost immediately upon the incor- 
poration of this Town, did not place the country in a state of 
disintegration. The Town organization remained, — its efficien- 
cy necessarily somewhat impaired, — but the town officers, having 
been elected by the people, still retained their confidence and 
support. Such powers as could be exercised only in the name 
of the king, or under the royal authority, were at first suspend- 
ed, and then abrogated ; but the same powers were immediately 
exercised under the authority of the people ; and the towns dur- 
ing all the time served to a great extent the purposes for which 
they were established. 



JAFFKEY CK.NIKNMAI.. ^^ I 

A Revolutionary Convention, called by the C'oniniittee of Cor- 
respondence, in 1775, recommended that those who had b.-cn 
chosen into office in the usual manner should, as formerly, bo 
considered the proper officers, and that the town, selectmen and 
other officers proceed in the usual manner in granting and col- 
lecting monies, &c., unless some particular direction was given; 
— adding this significant paragraph : — 

" If any, inimical to their country, or inattentive to the ruin 
-which nuist ensue upon a contrary conduct, should refuse, we 
trust that all the friends of the country will effectually strength- 
en the hands of the selectmen, constables and collectors." 

It is not supposed that any one here by his refusal rendered 
it necessary, even to hint at a resort to the peculiar strengthen- 
ing plaster, thus indicated. 

February 13, 1775, the town voted unanimously to visit Mr. 
Williams, of Keene, — a very extraordinary civility on the face of 
the vote. Williams was a lawyer, but the call on him was not 
for professional advice. — He was a tory, and this unusual dem- 
onstration had reference to that fact. The further proceedings 
in relation to the proposed visit are not of record. — It is a fair 
presumption that there was no tory in .laffrey who might be 
visited with much less trouble. 

No other system could have so well supplied civil govern- 
ment, under such circumstances. 

It was more difficult to deal with matters of which the Courts 
of Justice had jurisdiction. The Courts, on recommendation of 
the Convention, adjournt^d. 

Justices of the Peace could not well issue compulsory process 
under the royal authority, in the existing circumstances. The 
collection of debts by suits was suspended, and the natural con- 
sequences were, in one instance at least, exemplified here. In 
the files of the Convention of 1775, is a memorial, or represen- 
tation, addressed to the " Honorable Provincial Congress " signed 
by Jethro Bailey, William Tm-ner and Roger Gilmore, Com- 
mittee of Correspondence, setting forth that Benjamin Nutting 
of Peterboro' Slip, so called, had entered a complaint to them 
against John Davis, .Tunior. of Jafirey, that upon the second day 



O0 



JAFFKEY ('KXTKNMAL. 



of October, instant, as he came to the house of John Eaton, on 
some business, he was assaulted by said Davis, and abused in the 
most "solem" manner, as appears by sundry evidences, — that not- 
withstanding Davis Avas notified to attend and hear the evidences 
examined, he refused, — that he had often been requested to 
settle the matter, but remained obstinate, and persisted in his 
villainy, with insolence. 

The Committee enclosed the depositions and earnestlv desired 
the Convention to take the matter 'i.to consideration, and either 
determine it between them, or invest the Committee with a prop- 
er authority to act, with instructions how to proceed in the case. 
It does not appear that any action was taken upon the subject. 

On the fifth of January, 17T(), a " Form or Plan of C-ivil 
Government " was adopted bv a ('onvention, or ( 'ongress, which 
met for the purpose, under which the affi\irs of the towus Avere 
again transacted in legal form. The Form of Government wa's 
limited by its terms to continue " during the presL'nt unhappy 
and unnatural contest with Great Britain," but served as a State 
Constitution for many years, and has been said to be the first State 
(constitution. 

This caused no change in the organization of the Town, or in 
its proceedings, except that the latter we're now conducted, once 
more, under what proved to be a sufficient legal authority. 

A tV'w items in relation to the increase of the population, and 
the rate of taxation, may serve to show the comparative progress 
with the other towns. 

The Convention of 1775, ordered a survey to be made of the 
people in the several counties, for the purpose of determining 
the ratio of representation in the Assembly, from which it ap- 
pears that Jaffrey had 851 inhabitants. Of thirty towns in the 
County, ten or eleven had a larger number. She had sixteen 
men in the army. This is a very strong delegation for such a 
small comuumity, just organized, — larger than any of the towns 
not having u^^re inhabitants. Keene had 756 inhabitants. 
Chesterfield, AVestmoreland and Richmond a still greater num- 
ber. 



JAFFKEY CEXTEXNIAL. ~3 

The Census, in 1790, gives Jaffrey a population of 1235. 
There were then only six towns in the County with a popula- 
tion greater than this, and these, with the exception of Keene, 
lay on the South border, or on the Connecticut Eiver, and so 
were more easy of access. Keene had 1314 inhabitants. 

In 1800 the population was 1341. Eleven towns had a larg- 
er population, mostly much more favorably sitiiated. Keene 
had 164o. 

By an Act of the Assembly in 1777, determining the propor- 
tion of each town for every £1000 of the State taxes, Jaffrey's 
proportion was £5-9s.-5d. There were nine towns in the 
County having a greater valuation, — that of Keene being £10- 
5s.-9d., — twenty-two having less. 

When, in 1780, a requisition was made for a hundi-ed and 
twelve thousand Aveight of beef for the army, the proportion of 
Jaffrey was 7326 pounds; the proportion of Keene 11,309. 
The same year a ncM' proportion of taxes gave Jaffrey £6— 10s.— . 
lOd., Keene £10-ls.-lld. 

Another proportion in 1789 shows a comparative increase, fa- 
vorable to the prosperity of Jaffrey, — that is, supposing that the 
duty to pay a larger proportion of taxes indicates in fact a larg- 
er ability to perform the duty, — which probably is not always 
the case. Jaffrey is set at £7-12s.-5d., Keene £9-19s.-6d. 

Another proportion in 1794 gave for JafEi-ey £7-9s.-8d., 
Keene £9-14s.-6d. But in this year the valuation of Chester- 
field, Walpole and Westmoreland, lying on the Connecticut Riv- 
er, each exceeded that of Keene. 

It is not my purpose to refer in detail to the proceedings of 
the town, in the exercise of its rights and the performance of its 
duties. This is the special province of the futiu-e historian, and 
to him, whoever he may be, I remit it. 

But'a few brief notes, having reference to some of the subjects 
which have been mentioned, may find a place upon this occasion. 
The first meeting under the act of incorporation was for the 
choice of town officers only. It was called by Jonathan Stanley, 
specially authorized by the Charter, August 27, 1773, and was 
held September 14. 



24 JAFFREY CENTENNIAL. 

Aifiather meeting was held September 28, to raise money for 
the building of roads, and the support of the Gospel. 

April 26, 1774, it was voted to build a meeting-house ; and 
July 6, to build one of larger dimensions, — to let the building 
at public vendue, — that it should be raised by the middle of 
June next, at the town's cost, — Avith se^'eral other votes on the 
subject. 

It was voted in March 1775, that the Committee to build, 
provide all things necessary to raise the house at the cost of the 
town. But March 30, 1780, there was a vote to make allow- 
ance to Captain Henry Coffin for the barrel of rum which he 
paid for, to raise the meeting-house. The Captain it would 
seem, intervened patriotically, to supplement the deficiency of 
the provision made by the Committee, and waited a long time 
for reimbursement. 

There is a tradition that the meeting-house Avas raised on the 
day of the battle of Bunker Hill, and that the guns of that bat- 
tle were heard here. But this must be a mistake. When the 
matter is examined, the probabilities are against it. It is hard- 
ly probable that guns fired at Charlestown could be heard here, 
with the New Ipswich hills and the forest intervening, even on 
a quiet day, when there was no meeting-house to raise. More- 
over, the battle was on Satiu'day, which was as good a day lor a 
battle as any other day, but would hardly be selected as the 
time to raise a meeting-house, lest there should be some work 
remaining which ought to be performed the next day. 

The conclusion to be derived from the improbabilities is forti- 
fied by direct hear say evidence. I received a letter a few days 
since from Dr. Jeremiah Spofford, of Groveland, Mass., in Avhich 
he says, " My father, Jeremiah Spofford, as a master carpenter, 
framed that church. He was employed to do it by Captain 
Samuel Adams, whose wife was his sister. Jacob Spofford and 
Joseph Haskell went up with him, to work on the frame. •* * * 
My father often related, seventy years ago, that they raised the 
house, and that ending his job, they set out for home the next 
day, travelling " ride and tie," tlii-ee men, with one horse to car- 
ry tools and ease the men in turn ; — that coming down through 



JAFFIJEV fEXTF.XXlAL. 20 

To-vvnseiicl, in the forenoon, they heard the roar of cannon, which 
pro^■ed to be the cannon of Bunker Hill, and coming over the 
Wcstibrd Hills, in the evening, they saAv the light of Charles- 
town bui-ning. ***** Captain Adams was one of the 
contractors to build the house, and was a carpenter himself." 

It may be objected that " unlucky " Friday, was as little like- 
ly as Saturday to be selected as the day to begin such a work. 
But the explanation seems easy. The town had voted to raise 
by the middle of June. The contract Avould naturally specify- 
that as the time of performance. There would be a desire, and 
time enough, for compliance. The fifteenth of June was Thurs- 
dav. If we suppose that to be the day selected, and that there 
was some unfinished work to be done on Friday, to complete 
the job, we shall have the carpenters on their homeward wav 
on Satiu-day, in the localities in which Mv. Jeremiah S]>offord 
placed them. 

We may give up the tradition without a sigh. Neither the 
meeting-house, nor the battle will suffer by the loss of it. 

There was some delay in settling a minister. Several candi- 
dates were hired. There Avas a vote that young men supplv the 
pulpit ; and some others indicating that the services of some of 
the candidates Avere not quite satisfactory. But June 1st, 1780, 
it Avas A'oted to hear Mr. Caleb Jewett more, if he can be ob- 
tained; and Se]itember 4th, a vote to concur AAath the church in 
giving him a call. Why he did not accept, does not appear. — 
Perhaps from the insufficiency of the salary offered. He avrs, I 
think, a graduate of Dartmouth, of 1776, a native of NcAA-bury, 
Mass., and afterAvards settled in Gorham, Maine. 

In 1782, they settled the Hev. Laban Ainsworth, a native of 
Woodstock, Connecticut; — a graduate of Dartmouth College in 
1778. 

The first Aote for a salary Avas for £70 " AA^hile he supplies the 
desk," — Avhich Avas afterAvards changed to "Avhile he remains the 
minister of the toAvn." Choosing^ Avith deliberation, thev are en- 
titled to the credit of haA-iiig abided by their determination. — 
Mr. Ainsworth lived to the age of more than a hundred years, 
officiated AA-ithoTxt a colleague until 18.32, — and remained as 



26 JAFFKEY CEXTEXXIAL. 

the pastor of the church until his death, but his labors were dis- 
continued a few years earlier. As many of you knew him well, 
I need not speak of his appearance or services. A withered 
right arm was probably the reason why he did not write his ser- 
mons. If, as has been said, he sometimes looked up his text on 
Sunday morning, after breakfast, the fact will serve to show his 
confidence in his powers of discussion. 

The tales respecting the jokes, practical and otherwise, pass- 
ing between him and Father Sprague, are numerous, many of 
them probably fictitious. But there was, unquestionably, a suf- 
ficient encounter of wits to lay a good foundation for some of 
them. 

In the infancy of such a settlement, the difficulties of estab- 
lishing and maintaining a school or schools would necessarily be 
very great. If the means of support had been abundant, the 
facilities for the attendance of the scholars must have been quite 
limited. 

The first appropriation of £8 was made April 13, 17 To. 

Soon we find votes for the division of the money, indicating 
schools in different parts of the township, — then a division in- 
to districts. 

That the interests of education have received full support 
here, may be inferred from the fact, that twenty-four young nu n 
have graduated at the different colleges. Twenty of them at 
Dartmouth. 

It is not surprising that they deemed expenditures upon the 
roads as of the first importance. — Will you think it strange 
when I say that they appropriated much larger sums for high- 
ways than they did for the support of the gospel and the schools ? 
Will you be astonished that at their second meeting they voted 
£80, lawful money, to be worked out on the roads, and only £G 
to procure preaching, and that this disparity increased so that 
April 13, 1775, when they voted £8 for the school, they again 
voted £6 for preaching, and £130 for the roads? 

We must recollect that the efficiency of theu* maintenance of 
preaching depended upon theli- first mending their ways. 



JAFFKEY CENTENNTAL. 27 

It mav 1)0 said, that roads lay at the foundation of their pros- 
pcrty, spiritual, as well as temporal. Without roads the settle- 
ment eould not succeed ; and if that fiiiled, the support of relig- 
ious teaching, and the school failed with it. As the roads were 
made better, settlements were encouraged, the ability to support 
the institutions of religion was enlarged, and the appropriations 
were enlarged a' so. 

It is with great regret that I refer again to my inability to give 
some better account respecting the earliest inhabitants. 

Perhaps my recollections of a later date may possess some in- 
terest, and serve Avith those of others, to fill a page of local his- 
tory. 

In the early part of the present Christian century, there was 
clustered in the vicinity of the meeting-house, Avhich then had 
no steeple, the house of Rev. Mr. Ainsworth at the Southeast 
corner of the Common, — Danforth's Tavern, where Cutter's Ho- 
tel now stands, — the store of Joseph Thorndike, Esq., and Da- 
vid Page's store, on the East side, Cragin's Saddlery Shop on 
the Northeast corner, and on the North a large pile of buildings 
belonging to Joseph Cutter, Esq., of which only the main dwell- 
ing-house now remains. He kept a tavern, and had very ample 
accommodations for his customers. He was, I think, much the 
largest landholder in the toAvnship, and had an ambition to set- 
tle each of his numerous sons on a farm, which he accomplished 
to a great extent. At the Southwest corner of the burying 
ground was a- school-house. East of Danforth's Tavern was his 
blacksmith's shop. North of which was the dwelling-house of 
Capt. Samuel Adams. 

Commencing at the Common, the road to the Northeast, lead- 
ing to Peterboro', and to the Southeasterly part of Dublin, passed 
by a small house on the corner, at the left, no longer there, — 
which was occupied at one time by Mr. Cummings, afterwards 
by Dr. Johnson, and by Jonathan Lufkin, — there tui-ning North 
the road extended, by the place where the Melville Academy 
now stands, less than a quarter of a mile, where it forked, the di- 
rect road proceeding Northerly towards Dublin, by the houses 
of Mr. Newton and Thomas French, — the Eastorlv fork, which 



28 JAFFREY CE>;TEXMAL. 

was the principal road, running over the hill hy a house occu- 
pied by David Smiley, Esq., Attorney at Law. 

This house has gone, and the road over the hill. has gone with 
it. The more modern route, Northeast, by Mr. John Cutter's 
tannery, and Easterly of the meadow, entered this old road at 
the foot of the hill, on the East. 

Nearly a mile East of the village was the house of Widow 
Bryant. 

The road forked a few rods Easterly. On the Northerly 
branch, which branched again, lived Samuel Gary, Benjamin 
Lawrence, Deacon Jesse Maynard, Azael GoAving, Moses Stick- 
ney, Samuel Stickney, Silas Pierce, Jacob Jewell, Benj. Frost. 

Proceeding a short distance, the Easterly branch appeared 
to run into a North and South road, but the Northerly part was 
the main road to the Northeast. A few rods to the South was 
the house of Alpheus Grosby. In front, that of Asa Sawyer. 

Pursuing the main road, at a distance of about half a mile, 
on the right side, — was the house of Lieut. Thomas 
Adams, which has disappeared. Another was built near, 
on the left side, many years since, occupied by Daniel Emery. 
Not far beyond, at the place where a road noAv leads 
off' to the East village, there came into this road from the 
West a short branch road on which lived Mr. Bates. At 
this point came another fork. On the Northerly branch which 
has been slightly changed at its commencement, a quarter of a 
mile brought the traveller to another fork, the Westerly road 
being merely a local branch, terminating at the house soon after 
owned by Samuel Pierce. On the Easterly or main branch, we 
came next to the school-house of the district of my early boy- 
hood, — and in the field some quarter of a mile Southeast was 
the house of Ebenezer Burpee. 

Miss Hitty Brooks was one of the teachers of the summer 
school, a most estimable young lady, whose kindness dwells in 
my memory. She afterwards married Samuel Pierce. 

The old school-house has disappeared, and a few years more 
will carry all its memories with it. A few of its inmates at a 
later date still remain. 



JAFFKEY CEXTENNTAL. 29 

Starting once more upon our way, we find next Avhere Avas 
the house of AMiitcomb Powers, at the base of the hill, on the 
left. It is no longer there. There was none a little onward, 
Avhere the residence of my late friend Levi Fisk, Esq., has stood 
for many y(>ars. On the Northerly branch of a fork of the road 
a few rods further running to Twitchell's mills, in the Easter- 
ly part of Dublin, was the house of his father Thomas Fisk. At 
the fork last mentioned Avas formerly the shop of John Pushee, 
of which nothing but the nuns remained so far back as I can re- 
collect. I have the impression it had been burned. 

Thence, pursuing the Easterly branch of the highAvay, next 
came the house of my father, who came here from Pepperell in 
?ilav, 1780, settled in the unbroken forest, and cleared his farm 
himself, with such assistance as he coidd obtain. Some of you 
know the jilace. I am not aware of the particular inducement 
which led him to settle there. Probably a representation that 
it was a nice bit of land, dog cheap ; — and cheapness was a 
consideration not to be despised.* It proved rough and rocky, 
and admitted of any amount of hard labor. Twenty-five years 
of patient, persevering industry had made a difference in the 
appearance of things. There were rods of stone wall, reqviiring 
some knowledge of the mysteries of compound addition, to say 
how many. There were cattle and sheep, — hay in the barn, — 
a patch of flax in the field; — and a little Avheel, and a great 
wheel, and a great loom in the house. f The wood pile, would 
have deemed itself neglected if it had not extended a hundred 
feet, "more and not less," along the wall, with an indefinite 
breadth, and a height which no one undertook to measure. 
The fire-place in the connnon working-room, received back logs 
two and a half feet in diameter. I am tempted to put on the 
other' half foot, but refrain. From the great brick oven, by the 
side of fire place, there issued, from time to time, baked pump- 



*Consideration 2(10 pounds, lawful money. — 102 acres of land, part of 
lot 20 in the lirst range. 

fGirls " hired tlieniselves out" to spin. When the cloth was fulled and 
dressed, the tailoress of the neighborhood came, cut, and made up the 
clothes. — When the hides were tanned, the shoemaker, in his rounds, 
came once or twice in the year, and made up a stock of hoots and shoes 
for the family, staying perhaps a week foi' the purpo.se. 



^0 JAFFKKY rE\"TE\-:a VT.. 

kills, swA\ as no cooking stove,' invented or to ho in<-ented, can 
ever j5roducc, — and there was no watering of the milk. 

On winter evenings apples were roasting and sputtering upon 
the hearth, — and there was a mug of cider there. Checkers 
and jack-straws were seen o.x asionally, and some card teeth 
were set. 

My brothers caught minks, and musquash, partridges and 
pickerel, rabbits and woodchucks, — and in haying time, I took 
up bumble bees' nests, getting poor pay for my labor. 

In order to economise time, I give this brief sketch of a single 
household, instead of a more elaborate statement which I was 
preparing respecting farming life generally in the town ; — and 
in the hope that the personality may be excused, in considera- 
tion of its brevity. Any one by pursuing things to their natu- 
ral antecedents and conclusions, may judge somewhat of the 
whole from these few particulars. Exceptions of course.* 

Half a mile onward was the house of the Widow Turner. — 
The widow relished a joke, and perhaps I may be pardoned for 
telling a short story, which she told herself. She had taken her 
grist to be ground at the mills of Samuel Twitchell, Esq., the 
father of the celebrated surgeon Dr. Amos Twitchell, just with- 
in the limits of Dublin, riding, of coiu'se, upon the top of the 
bags. The Squu-e who was somewhat of a humorist, had a hired 
man named White, certainly not beautiful to behold. The wid- 
ow's description of what occurred further was in this Avise : — 
*' When I got there the Squii'e was in the yard, and I said to him, 
* help me off my horse. Squire ; ' which he did. Then I said to 
him, 'now kiss me Squire; ' and he turned and called ' AVhite, 
White, White ; ' as if he was calling some great dog, and there 
came out of the mill the ugliest lookini^ critter that ever I set 



*The maDufactures of cotton were those of the household, opf^rated by 
hand power. Edmund Snow, of Peterboro', manufactured hand cards for 
cotton and woo), punching the holes in the leathers, and preparing the 
teeth and distiibuting them among Uie ditl'erent families in the region 
round about, to be set bj' Ihe ycung people, who in that way put " store 
pay " in their purse. At the Peterboro' Centennial in 1839, my brother 
Isaac gave some account of his achievements in setting these card teeth. 
Perhaps it was in this way that he was led to take an interest in the estab- 
lishment of cotton mauufact\uies in Peterboro' and elsewhere. 



.TAFFREY CENTEXMAI.. 31 

mv eyes on, and the Squire said, ' Come here, White, and kiss 
this woman ; — I always keep a man to do that drudgery for me.' " 

A short distance farther, at the extreme Northeast corner of 
the town, was Samuel Saunders," a very good carpenter as well 
as a fcirmer. Here the road turned short to the South, and pass- 
ing the house of Elijah Wellman, connected near the line oi Pe- 
terboro' with the Southerly branch, which was left soon after 
passing Lieut. Adams's. A house has existed South of Well- 
man's, occupied by Andrew Holmes, but I think of a later date. 

Turning back to the Southerly branch, and taking the direc- 
tion to Peterboro', there Avas near the fork the house of Roger 
Brigham. Then came the hoiise of David Sawtell, then Parker 
Maynard, then Samuel Patrick, then Mr. Snow. 

Samuel Dakin, Esq., Attorney at Law, who afterwards re- 
moved to New Hartford, in the State of New York, purchased 
land North of Capt. Adams, in the middle of the town, and built 
the house now occupied by Dr. Fox, about 1805. My father, 
havinar bought a corner lot of Mr. Dakin, erected the house at 
the Northerly end of that street, and I became an inmate of' the 
school-house at the corner of the burying ground. There is a 
reminiscence of discipline connected with this hoiise. The-rules 
of the school forbid whispering of course. Having a desire to 
say something to a young IMiss who sat near me, I forgot the 
rule I suppose, and she must have joined in the transgression, 
for the eagle eye of the teacher, Miss Maria Blanchard, detect- 
ing this violation of order, we Avere forthAvith sentenced to sit 
each Avith an arm around the other's neck. I do not give this 
as an instance of the ordinary discipline. On the contrary it 
Avas an unusual, as Avell as a cruel punishment, and niay there- 
fore .be regarded as unconstitutional. But to prcA^ent misappre- 
hension, I have taken occasion to say, that I have since seen the 
time Avhen I should haA'c borne such a dispensation with a much 
greater degree of philosophy.* 



♦The school books were Webster's Spelling Book, with a grim frontis- 
piece, suppostnl to represent that ambitious lexicographer, Webster's 
Third Tart, American Preceptor, The CoUimbian Orator, Yonng Ladies' 
Accidence, Murray's Grammar, JVIorse's Geography, and Pike's Arithmetic. 



JAFFREY CENTENNIAL 



Pursuing the road Northwesterly from the school-house, there 
was at the foot of the hill, a house occupied by Widow Hale, 
then one occupied by Hugh Gragg, and a few rods Westei-ly, at 
the junction of the old road running Westerly to Marlboro' and 
the road running Northerly to Dublin, there was in the corner, 
the house of Dr. Adonijah Howe the elder, the beloved physi- 
cian. He afterwards biiilt a much larger one just North, which 
you have known as occupied by Daniel Cutter. The place is 
now designated as the Shattuck Farm. Jonathan Gage lived off 
Northeast from this point, on a private road. A house has since 
been built, farther on the Dublin road, by Joel Cutter, and be- 
yond this point was another fork, — the left hand, running to- 
wards the mountain, led to the houses of Joseph Cutter, junior, 
John Cutter, second, and -Daniel Cutter who afterwards, occu- 
pied the house built by Dr. Howe. 

All thcsj were sons of Joseph Cutter, Esq. A Southerly branch 
turning off near Joseph Cutter, junior's, led to the houses of Jo- 
seph Mead, Mr. Brooks, David Cutter and Jacob Hammond. 

The principal road, Avhich turned to the right at the fork, led 
Northerly over the hill to a house owned by Joseph Thorndike, 
Esq., afterwards by John Conant, Esq., who has made himself 
widely and favorably known by his very liberal donations to cli- 
vers public objects. It is now owned by the president of the 
day, — who speaks for himself. 

The travel over the hill has since been diverted to the other 
branch, by a slight alteration, — in consequence of the modern 
discovery, (especially unknown to Turnpike proprietors in for- 
mer clays,) that in some cases it is no farther to go around a hill 
than it is to go over it, and that the larger load can be drawn on 
the level ground. Beyond, on the road to Dublin, were David 
Corey, Mr. Billiard and Mr. Johnson. 

Of the other highways in the town, and the persons living 
upon them, my early recollections are of course less particular. 
I have a note of most of the inhabitants of the different sections, 
but for the location and even the names of many of them, I am 
indebted to Mr. Ethan Cutter, whose early opportunities for ac- 



JAFFEEY CEXTEXNIAL. 33 

quiring a full knowledge of the different localitcs were of the 
best, and whose memory of them is of the same character. Were 
there no reason but lack of time, I must leave this part of the 
subject to others who may be heard today, craving indulgence 
for subjoining a few notes respecting the Third New Hampshire 
Turnpike. 

This Turnpike was incorporated in December, 1799, running 
Irom Bellows Falls, Vermont, to Ashby, Mass., fifty miles, and 
cost, it was said, fifty thousand dollars. It occupied portions of 
the old road in various places, — near the mountain, near the 
middle of the town, — -and eastward of it. It struck off from 
the old road at John Cutter's tannery, and at Spofford's mills, 
and run by Col. Benjamin Prescott's tavern, in the East part of 
the town, and through " Tophet SAvamp " into New Ipswich. 

The three men just named were marked men in their day. 
Mr. John Cutter carried on a large tannery, for that time, and 
made it a profitable business, which has since been enlarged. 
His children were among my old school-mates, and I am pleased 
to see some of them with us today. With the exception of 
Joseph Cutter, Esq., he has probably more representatives in 
town than any other of his contemporaries. 

Deacon Eleazer Spofford, who purchased of Mr. Borland, his 
farm and mills, in 1778, was a tall gentleman of a grave de- 
meanor, pleasant smile, and a kind heart, — I think universally 
beloved. He led the singing for very many years. If he had 
an enemy in the world, that enemy must have been an unrea- 
sonable man. He lost a young son in the bui-ning of Rev. Mr. 
Ainsworth's house, in 1786. His mills were complete for that 
day. In the grist mill was a 'jack,' which if it was not the pro- 
genitor, was the prototype, of the modern elevator in hotels and 
stores. It was worked by water power, to carry the wheat, as 
soon as ground, to the bolter in the attic. A ride on it, with 
his son Luke, then miller, afterwards clergyman, was a treat to 
the boys who brought wheat to be ground.* 



*I)r. Spofford says " He had for many years the best flouring mills in 
that part of New Hampshire." 

He removed to Bradford, Mass., now Groveland, in 1821, and died there 
in 1828. 



34 JAFFREY CENTEXXIAT,. 

A grandson of Deacon SpofFord was Chief Justice of Louisi- 
ana at the time of the breaking out of the rebelHon, and another 
is now Librarian of the Congressional Library. 

There must have been some controversy respecting the loca- 
tion of the tui'npike. In a poetical New Year's Address, sent 
from Parnassus to New Ipswich, soon after, it was said that 
the muse could relate, — 

"How Prescott and Merriam made a stand 
And bent the road to suit their laud." 

But she did not do it, and I can not. 

Col. Prescott, as I remember him, was another of the tall 
men of Jaffrey, — of powerful frame, — and an influential man 
in the town. If any man could bend a turnpike, he might be 
expected to do it. 

The principal taverns on the turnpike were those of Sweetser 
in Marlboro', — Milliken, Danforth and Prescott, in Jaffi-ey, — 
and Merriam and Batchelder in New Ipswich, celebrated hous- 
es in theu- day. 

It was one of the principal thoroughfares from Central Ver- 
mont to Boston, and the transportation over it in the winter was, 
of course, quite large, as the route through Rindge was not then 
a great highway. This winter transportation was generally by 
two horse teams, attached to square lumber boxes, so called, 
loaded on the downward transit principally with pork, grain, 
beans, butter, cheese, and other country produce ; and on their 
return trip with iron, molasses, rum, sugar, codfish, and other 
groceries. The chy goods of that day were principally of home 
manufacture. 

Occasionally a severe storm, blocking the roads badly, would 
compel these teams to stop at the nearest of the taverns named, 
where the loggerhead was always in the fire in winter, and the 
landlord ready to make a *' good stiflfmug of flip." 

Some of my auditory may not have heard the name before. 
It was concocted of home made beer, well sweetened, — a suitable 
proportion of West India rum, — and heated by the loggerhead 
to a proper temperature. When an egg was beaten in, it was 
called " bellows top," partly perhaps from its superior quality. 



JAFFKEY CEXTEXXIAT,. 35 

and partly from the greater quantity of white froth that sweHed 
lip on the top of it. 

With ten or fifteen teamsters gathered together by one of 
these snow blockades, and a fair allowance of flip, of course "the 
mirth and fun grew fast and furious;" — and when the storm 
was over, and the road began to be " broken out " the long 
line of teams, especially those ascending the hills to the West, 
Avas something to see. 

The mail stage between Keene and Boston, for a long time, 
run over this road, — once a week, — twice, — daily, except 
Sundays, — then a despatch line, called the telegraph,* through 
in twelve hours, — superseded by the Railroad through Fitch- 
bvu'g ; so that the crack of the stage driver's Avhip , and the blast 
of his horn, no longer echo among the hills. 

The wayside inn, for the accommodation of the passing trav- 
eller, has fallen from its high estate, through the introduction of 
the railroads ; and from the same cause, along with the introduc- 
tion of other beverages, the institution of temperance societies, 
and the passage of prohibitory laws, the glory of Flip has de- 
parted, and its name is almost forgotten. 

The turnpike was not a source of great profit, and was finally 
laid out as a common highway, the towns paying the proprietors 
a moderate sum in damages. 

The beautiful and busy village of East Jaffrey, Avith its large 
cotton factory, and divers other manufactures, its hotel, stores, 
bank and dwellings, and with a raiboad running thi'ough it, is 
comparatively of modern creation. 

A short time since, I summed up my recollections of its peo- 
ple and business, — as I first kncAv it ; — Dea. SpofFord, and his 
mills, — Abner Spofibrd, and his blacksmith shop, — and Joseph 
Lincoln, and his clothier's shop. — William Hodge and his farm 
constituted a Northern suburb. 

I must not omit to mention Amos Fortune. He was born in 
Africa, — brought to this country as a slave, — purchased his free- 



*This line was established bj' Col. French, then of Keene, now of Peter- 
boro' ; and Col. Shepherd, then of Boston, now of Manchester. 



36 JAFFKEY CENTENNIAL. 

dom, — purchased and then married his wife, — came to this 
place in 1781, — and lived subsequently about a mile Northeast 
of Spofford's mills, where he had a small tannery. 

At that time any person who had come to dwell within a 
town, and been there received and entertained by the space of 
thi'ee months, not having been warned to depart by some person 
appointed by the selectmen, was reputed an inhabitant, and 
the proper charge of the town in case he came to stand in need 
of relief. This power of " warning out " was given to the towns 
that they might protect themselves against pauperism ; and in 
some towns the selectmen were so careful of the interests of the 
town, that they warned all new comers to depart, — so zealous, 
that in one instance, as I have heard, the town having settled a 
minister, the selectmen forthwith warned him out. 

Such general warnings were not practiced in this town, but 
Fortune was warned out in Sept. 1781, doubtless from an appre- 
hension that he might become a pauper. Like all other persons 
similarly notified, he disregarded the warning, and he lived here 
the remainder of his life. Dying in 1801, without children, at 
the age of ninety-one, as stated on his gravestone, (which, as I 
recollect him, an active business man, seems to me doubtful at 
least,) he by his last will, after a provision for gravestones, an- 
other for the support of his wife during her life, and a small 
legacy to an adopted daughter, empoAvered his executor Deacon 
Spofford, if there was any remainder of his estate, to "give a hand- 
some present to the Church of which he was a member, and the 
remaining part, if any there be, to give as a present for the sup- 
port of the school in School-House No. 8." The Church re- 
ceived under this bequest in May, 1805, $100, — partly expended 
in the purchase of a communion service, — still in their posses- 
sion ; and in September, 1809, the Judge of Probate ordered 
$233.95, the balance in the hands of the executor, to be paid 
over to the selectmen of Jaffrey, " agreeable to a special act of 
the legislature of the state of New Hampshire, passed on the 
15th of June last." This act was passed because no person was 
mentioned in the will to receive and apply the fund. It is still 



JAFFEEY CEXTEXXIAL. 37 

held by the selectmen in trust for the benefit of the District. — 
We are aware that these sums represented much larger vahies 
at that time, than like sums do at the present day. 

We have come together, with hearts full of thanksgiving to 
the Great Disposer of Events, that He has permitted us to as- 
semble here, to commemorate the organization of civil institu- 
tions and government in our beloved municipal homestead. 

But an occasion like this cannot be one of unmixed joy. 

••Time rolls his ceaseless course." 

•' Still it creeps on. 

Each little moment at another's heels, 

Till hours, daj'S, years and ages are made up, 

Of such small parts as these, and men look back 

Worn and bewildered, wondering how it is." 

" When in this vale of years I backward look. 
And miss such numbers, numbers too of such, 
Firmer in health and greener in their age. 
And stricter on their guard, and fitter far 
To play Life's subtle game, I scarce believe 
I still survive." 

Death has removed, not only all the early inhabitants, and 
many who were familiar with the history of a later date, because 
principal actors therein, but many who, if less conspicuous, were 
not less dear to us : and we pause a moment to dwell Avith a rev- 
erential remembrance, — with filial affection, — with devoted 
love, — on the memory of those whose animated faces Avould have 
greeted us at this time, had they been spared to this day. Alas, 
— for them, time is no more. 

The sum of human joys and human sorrows, which have been 
felt within the limits of this town during the past century, can 
only be known to Omniscience. The joys have passed, and are 
passing, with little or no record of their existence. And so of 
many, perhaps most, of the sorrows. But there is a parcel of 
ground, of small extent, on the brow of the hill, and adjoining 
the Common, which contains records reminding us of the sor- 
rows of ourselves and others, which are of a more enduring 
character. 



38 JAFl'HKY CEXTENMAT,. 

There rest the remains of my beloved and venerated parents, 
my father dying at the age of seventy-eight, and my mother Hv- 
ing until near ninety-seven. Other fathers and mothers, of Hke 
ages, are gathered there, shocks of corn fully ripe, and fit to be 
garnered; whom we must moui'n, but with the consolation that 
they had done their duty in the community, — had fought the 
good fight, — had finished their course, — had kept the faith. 

But these records tell other tales. Thero repose the husband 
and father, the wife and mother, who fe!l by the wayside, in the 
meridian of life ; — who appeared to have before them years of 
happiness and usefulness to themselves and others, — upon whont 
young children were dependent, and to whom friends looked for 
counsel and for guidance. 

Brothers and sisters, young men and maidens, who were just 
entering upon the threshold of existence, with a life of useful- 
ness and honor and prosperity in anticipation, lie there side by 

side. 

What agonies of grief, suppressed and irrepressible, have rent 
the hearts of survivors, as the mournful processions have passed 
within the gate, and consigned the remains of the beloved objects 
to theii" places of final rest. 

Hallowed be the spot where the dust of the century is gath- 
ered together, and around which is clustered a century of the 
greatest of human sorrows. 

Whatever of sadness may be in the retrospect, it is meet that 
we should celebrate the hundredth anniversary of an organiza- 
tion fraught with so much of usefulness to the persons who have 
lived within its limits. 

We are here on a day that marks an era. 

Let us rejoice that this town incorporation will be continued 
for the benefit and advantage of the generations who are advanc- 
ing to its possession. 

Let us rejoice that w-e may go onward into the new centurv. 
though it be to some of us but for a short period, and to none of 
us to its close ,* and that space is yet granted us to do something, 
not only for the comfort and welfare of those who are dear to us, 
bvit of the community around us. 



JAl'FKEY f'ENTENMAI,. 39 

And now, assembled here as the surviving representati\es of 
the first centurv of onr incorporation, and standing just within 
the threshold of its successor, let us dedicate this new municipal 
century, in Avhich the town and its in-chvellers are to do service 
for another hundred ypJii's, to the prosecxition and extension of 
every good and beneficent work of its predecessor. 

I feel assured that you will join with me A^'hen T sav : — We 
dedicate it to the promotion of Religion. 

Not a religion Av^hich leans upon the State for its support, and 
depends upon faith without Avorks ; — but that religion AA'hich 
sustains the State by the inculcation of truths AA^hich lie at the 
foundation of organized and orderly society, and supports the 
goA^ernment by its Avorks. Not that religion Avhich has its great- 
est regard for forms and ceremonies, and the Avashing of cups 
and platters ; but that Avhich sanctifies the heart and purifies the 
life. — Not that religion, if such there be, which enters into em- 
bittered controversies about dogmas, and disputes zealously about 
trifles; but that religion AA^hich being first pure,, is "then peace- 
able, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits ; " 
and Avhich teaches the loAe of God Avith our Avhole heart, and 
the loA'e of our neighbor as of ourselves. 

We dedicate it to education and sound learning. 

Not that learning which attempts from metaphysical nothings 
to make up a unit, — the votaries of Avhich, multiplying them- 
selves bv themseh^es, think that they sum up the infinite, and 
something beyond: — but that learning Avhich leads to the belief, 
in the language of the arithmetical aphorism of Parson Wiggles- 
Avorth, of Maiden, that 

•' Natisrht jovn'rl to namrlit can ne'er make ansrht. 
Nor fvnlipi's mrike a =iirn. 
Nor finite to the intinite. 
Rv mnltiplvinii eome." 

Not to that training Avhich leads self-siifficient peo])le to at- 
tempt to magnify themselves, by multitudes of projects for mak- 
ing a new Avorld difi^erent from, and thus better, than that which 
God made ; — but to a system of education AA-hich has due regard 
to the nature of things, and to the constitution of mankind, and 



40 JAFFREY CENTENNIAL. 

the ends which the Creator mtendecl they should pursue; and 
whicli seeks by measures consistent with creation, as it exists, 
to perform the whole duty Avhich the Creator requires, in the 
world as he has made it. 

Not to that theory of education which proposing that all per- 
sons should be educated up to the utmost limit of which they are 
capable, becomes a practical and mischievous humbug; — but to 
that theory which shall provide an education of the highest char- 
acter for all the members of the community, with reference to the 
needful discharge of the various employments and duties which 
must necessarily exist. 

Not to that system of education which by "raising the stand- 
ard," as it is called, subjects the young to such demands upon 
their intellect, in the time of their immaturity, as to impair if 
not destroy the physical powers, and thereby render intellectu- 
al acquisitions useless ; — but to that system which recognizes the 
physical as well as the intellectual, and seeks to develop both 
according to their necessities, — and this not by subjecting first 
the one and then the other to an extraordinaiy strain, but by a 
moderation that shall be known in all things. 

Not to that education which casts odium upon labor, and in- 
duces young men and women to endeavor to escape from its 
wholesome, invigorating influences, by a resort to cities for the 
purpose of begging for a situation, where ease shall lead to pov- 
erty ; or which seeks, through political partisanship, for some 
petty clerkship under Government, leaving the successful incum- 
bent without occaipation, or the means of an honest livelihood, 
when the office falls into the hands of the next eager aspirant, 
who has pushed him from his official stool ; but that education 
which dignifies labor, and seeks to improve its modes of action, — 
which qualifies the recipient to occupy his place in life, whatev- 
er it may be, and with cheerfulness and alacrity to do the duty 
which the State and the community demand of him. 

May I add a constitutional provision. 

Not to that learning which endangers the compromises of the 
Constitution by attempts to maintain that the United States were 
a Nation before they were States, and that the Constitution was 



JAFFRKY CKNTENNIAL. 41 

formed by that Nation ; — nor that other learning which would 
make shipwreck of Constitutional rights and safeguards, by theo- 
ries which sophistically give to the War Powers of the President 
and Congress a predominance over Constitutional guaranties, — 
but that learning which accepting the undisputed facts of history, 
arrives at the conclusion that the Constitution Avas adopted by 
the several peoples of the different States, whereby the peoples 
of those States became a Nation for the purposes manifested by 
it, - — and that the war powers, designed to preserve, cannot be 
rightfully exercised to destroy, the liberties of the people. 

We dedicate it to Philanthropy and Charity. 

Not to that philanthropy which consists in words and eschews 
Avorks ; not to that charity which, beginning at home, ends in the 
same spot ; nor that charity which does hope things are not 
quite so bad as they are reported, but is fearful that they may 
be worse ; — but to that philanthropy which does the deeds of 
the Good Samai'itan, and which is open-hearted and open-hand- 
ed within the limits of prudence; and to that charity which 
sufFereth long and is kind, which envieth not, is not easily pro- 
voked, thinketh no evil, hopeth all things, and endureth all 
things. 

We dedicate it to Ambition. 

Not that ambition which seeks a seat in Congress by bribery, 
or any other seat by the petty arts of the partisan politician; — 
but that ambition described by Lord Mansfield, when he said, — 
" I wish popularity, but it is that popularity which folloAvs, not 
that which is run after ; it is that popularity which, sooner or 
later, never fails to do justice to the pursuit of nobl(> ends by 
noble means." 

We dedicate it to rational Amusement. 

Not to the games or pursuits which blunt the conscience, de- 
prave the habits, enervate the mind, and vitiate the taste ; — but 
to the recreations which solace from care, stimulate the fancy, 
develop the muscle, sustain the nerves, and give, through so- 



42 JAFFREY ('E>;TF>>NTAL. 

cial intercourse, a relaxation from toil, a kindly regard for our 
neighTaors, and courtesy to our associates, Avlicthrr within or 
without the township. 

We dedicate it to the wise and just exercise of all the politi- 
cal and municipal Eights conferred upon the Town ; and to the 
faithful discharge of all corresponding Duties. 

Finally, as the sum of all, we dedicate it to Human Happi- 
ness, and the Glory of God. 

And may His blessing rest upon it, and hallow it, from its 
commencement to its termination. 



JAFFREY CENTENNIAL. 43 

A. P P TG ISr D I X -A.. 

NoTE' TO PAGE 7. — A portioii of JafFrey was included in 
the original location of Peterborough. 

The township of Peterborough was granted by Massachusetts, 
to inhabitants of that Colony, with power to the grantees to se- 
lect the particular location. Under the erroneous supposition 
that the line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was 
that claimed by the former, the grantees made their location be- 
yond the jurisdiction of Massachiisetts, and embraced within their 
" six miles square " a large portion of the valley between the 
base of the mountain on the east, (now known as Peterboro' 
mountain), and the Monadnock. 

When it was ascertained that the location was -svithin New 
Hampshire, and fell within the purchase of the Masonian Pro- 
prietors, .Jos. Blanchard, as their agent, cut off a range and a 
half on the western side, in order to provide for a tier of town- 
ships east of the Monadnock, and the portion thus cut off was 
included in Monadnock Nos. 2 & S, (JafFrey and Dublin). 

The Masonian Proprietors not only released the residue of the 
township to the grantees under Massachusetts, but gave them, 
to make up their quantity, a strip of land on the East, of equal 
extent to that taken off on the West. This however, being on 
the eastern mountain, was comparatively worthless. — The grant- 
ees of Peterboro', in grateful recognition of the kindness of the 
Masonian Proprietors in confirming so much of their invalid ti- 
tle, and in giving them an addition to make up their quantity, 
gave the Proprietors several lots in the township, — but they 
took care to locate them all in the new addition, on the east ! — 
Ex relatione Dr. Albert Smith. 

A. p r* E isr r) I X b. 

Note to Page 1(5. — Something more may be said upon this 
subject, and as I have no wish to recur to it again, I add here : 

The compact made on board the Mayflower, which fiu-nished 
the foundation of the first Town organization, — at Plymouth, 



44 JAFFREY CENTENNIAL. 

w^ " occasioned, partly by the discontented and mutinous 
speeches of some of the strangers " on board the ship, and part- 
ly by the reason that "such an act by them done, (this their 
condition considered) might be as firm as any patent, and in 
some respects more sure." The matters which "occasioned" 
the compact had, therefore, no particular relation to the chuixh 
polity. — It recited that they were loyal subjects of King James, 
that they had undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement 
of the Christian faith, and honor of their King and country, a 
voyage to plant a Colony, — and by it they combined themselves 
together, into a civil body politic, for the better promotion of, 
those ends, and by virtue of it, "to enact, constitute and frame 
such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and of- 
fices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and con- 
venient for the general good of the Colony." 

There is nothing, either in the reasons given for the act, or in 
the purposes of the expedition as recited, or in the agreement 
actually executed, Avhich indicates that it Avas derived from the 
church organization, — or which in any way refers to the Con- 
gregational polity, or to any particular administration of church 
government, — and this, taken with the statements which are con- 
tained in it, tends to show that the town organization in Ply- 
mouth, which arose from it, was not even suggested by the cler- 
ical. 

Quite consistently with this origin of the Town organization, 
there mignt have been a different church polity previously, and 
any church polity which the signers pleased, might have been 
adopted afterwards. The church polity of the same people, 
had, as a matter of coiu'se, a similar foundation, that of self-gov- 
ernment, — but that fact did not of itself originate or give rise 
to the civil polity. It only accompanied it, each acting within 
its own sphere. 

This organization of Plymouth became substantially a State, 
as well as a town. But the State was for the purpose of general 
government, and did not derive its ideal from the church; and 
when, by reason of the extension of the settlements, other towns 
were organized, it was for the purpose of ordering and manag- 



JAFn?EY CEXTENNIAL. 45 

ing their local affairs, — the support of religious teachers, along 
with the making and mending of highways, — the support of 
schools, — the preservation of the peace, through the instrumen- 
tality of the constable, — and the prevention of of trespass by 
cattle, through the institution of pounds. 

The principle of self-government upon which the original 
settlement was founded, and upon which in reference to their 
local affairs, the Towns were afterwards organized, was not on- 
ly a fundamental principle with the emigrants, but Avas a neces- 
sity under the circumstances attending the emigration. No one 
had authority to rule, — there were no means of government ex- 
cept by agreement, or force, — and they agreed upon a govern- 
ment for themselves, to be administered by themselves. It must 
have been the same if no church had then been organized among 
them. The same principle operated in regard to the church. — 
When the people broke from the authority of the bishops there 
was no authority in ecclesiastical matters, except their own, and 
thus Congregationalism came into existence. 

It may be said, (and it seems to be the only argvvicnt Avhich 
can be used in favor of the position), that the principles of the 
churches "led to this form of government," — that the church 
organization was first, and that the Town coming after, adopted 
the same principle of self-government. To this '■'Post hoc, sed 
von propter hoc,''^ — after, but not hy reason of the chiu"ch organ- 
ization, is a sufficient reply. There must be something more 
thfin this, to sustain the assertion that *' it was a Congregational 
Church meeting, that first suggested the idea of a New England 
Town meeting." 

Meetings of subscribers to the Compact made on board the 
Mayflower, grew out of the Compact itself. 

A i» p E isr 3D I X c. 

Note to page 30. — Attempts to manufacture cotton, by ma- 
chinery, were made in this country as early as 1787, and in sub- 
sequent years in that century. The machinery was imperfect 
and the residts, of course, unsatisfactory. The first mill, in New 



46 JAFFKEY CENTENNIAL. 

Haippshire, was established in 1804, in New Ipswich. The first 
cotton mill in Peterboro' was incorporated 1808. It spun and 
sold yarn, but for years manufactui'ed no cloth. — For these dates 
I am indebted to a small volume entitled, " Introduction and 
Early progress of the cotton manufactxu'e in the United States," 
written by Samuel Batchelder, Esq., a native of JafFrey, and 
published in 18G3. Prior to the manufactui-e of cloth here, the 
cheaper cotton cloth, in the market, was a sleasy fabric, manufac- 
tured in India and England, — the latter heavily starched, to 
conceal its flimsy texture. 

Enquiries in several directions enable me to add some infor- 
mation respecting the manufacture of Woollens. 

It appears that a mill, a fulHng mill I presume, was erected at 
Rowley, Mass., as early as 1G43, but machinery for carding, 
spinning, and weaving was of a much later date. Carding ma- 
chines were introduced into this country about 1794, — into 
New Ipswich in 1801, and probably soon after into this town. 
They had then been known in England twenty or thirty years. 
Some of the first carding machinery used in this country was 
shipped from England, as hardware, being exported contrary to 
the laws in force there. See Bulletin of Wool Manufacturers, 
April-.Iune, 1873, page 193. Article by S. B. 

T. Clapp, Agt., Pontoosuc Woollen Mill, Pittsfield, Mass., 
writes under date of October 9th, that Arthur Schofield started 
his first carding machine there in 1801 ; — that the first broad- 
cloth made in this country was made by him, in that town, in 
1^04, — and that " in 1808 Schofield manufactured thirteen yards 
of black broadcloth, which was presented to President Madison, 
from which his inaugural suit was made. Fine merino sheep 
were introduced about this time into this town, and Schofield 
Avas able to select wool enough to make this single piece, and 
President Madison was the first President who was inaugui-ated 
in American broadcloth." 

An extended, and very interesting, article on the subject, ap- 
pears in the Boston Commercial Bulletin, of Nov, 15th, (as these 
sheets are passing through the press), which states that Arthur 



JAFFREY CENTENNIAL. 47 

and John Schofield came to this country from England in 1798, 
and took up their residence in Charlestown, — that after look- 
ing around a few weeks they determined to make a start in the 
manufacture of wollen cloth by hand, — that John built the first 
machinery himself, and having completed " a hand loom, spin- 
ning jenny. Sec, on the 28th of October he sold the first product 
of this loom, 2^ yards of broadcloth [?] for £10-I6s., and 20 
yards of mixed broadcloth for £12;" — that they removed to 
Newburyport in that year, for the purpose of starting a factory 
with improved machinery, and built a carding machine, which 
was first put together in a room in Lord Timothy Dexter 's sta- 
ble, and then operated by hand, for the purpose of showing its 
operation. " 'I'his was in the year 1794, and was the first card- 
ing machine for avooI made in the United States ; and at this 
place were made the first spinning rolls carded by machinery." 

A factory was started by them, and others, in Byfield, in 1795. 
A single carding machine and two double ones were placed in it. 
" A coarse kind of flannel called baize " was woven. What oth- 
er cloth was manufactured is not stated. 

They established a factory at Montville, in Conn., about 1798. 

It appears further that in 1801, Arthur, having removed to 
Pittsfield, had a carding machine there, — advertised for wool to 
card, — and built carding machines for other persons. 

It is then stated, " The first broadcloth made by Arthur 
Schofield after his arrival in Pittsfield was in 1804. The cloth 
was a gray mixed, and when finished, was shown to difi"erent 
merchants, and offered for sale but could find no pm-chasers in 
the village. A few weeks subsequently, Josiah Bissell, a lead- 
ing merchant in town, made a voyage to New York, for the pui-- 
pose of buying goods, and brought home two pieces of Scho- 
field's cloths, which was purchased for the foreign article. Scho. 
field was sent for to test the quality, and soon exhibited to the 
merchant his private marks on tlie same cloth which he had be- 
fore rejected." 

Then comes the statement respecting the manufacture of broad- 
cloth in 1808, which President Madison wore when inauo-urated. 

Considering all these statements the reasonable conclusion ap- 
pears to be, that the first broadcloth manufactured in this coun- 



48 JAFFREY CENTENNIAL. 

try was made in 1804, by Arthur Schofield, as stated by Mr. 
Clapp. It seems improbable that the cloth manufactured in 
Charlestown in 1794 could have been broadcloth. 

At the period of which I speak, wool was carded partly by 
hand, but the carding machines generally turned out the rolls, 
which were spun upon the domestic great wheel, and woven in 
the loom, like the cotton, and then fulled and dressed by the 
clothier. 

The great wheel and the loom have disappeared before their 
gigantic competitors ; and the linen wheel, which spun the flax, — 
humble little machine, — has gone along with its larger compan- 
ions, although large linen manufactui-es have not succeeded in 
establishing themselves here to any great extent. — The prepa- 
ration of the ground, the seed and the sowing, — the pulling, 
rotting, breaking, swingling and hatchelling of the flax, — with 
the spinning and weaving superadded, — involved too great an 
amount of labor for a successful competition with the foreign 
manufactui-er, as soon as the profit from other branches enabled 
the farmer to purchase the foreign article, manufactm-ed where 
labor is so much cheaper. — Besides, the manufactiu'e of cot- 
ton cloth,, by machinery, reduced the cost of that, so that it su- 
perseded the use of linen, in a very great degree. 



i 



I 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 







013 9969194 • 



f " 


Tr 






iJ 






n(\ 






■ A 

yi 







c'r^Zy 





K ^ 



^:^.--.^'3^/^-vi 



r^^ ^ 
i-0^^^%. 



j^ :y 



ex 



